Not Your Everyday Block Party

May 5, 2016

By Leila Khosrovi of envelope A+D, the firm behind PROXY
PROXY is a business member of HVNA

Hayes Valley has a lot to celebrate! We have eclectic culture, active open space and a close-knit community. On June 7, PROXY and SFJAZZ will team up to turn these ingredients into a neighborhood party. This FREE community event—featuring live music, jazz-inspired films, food trucks and a beer garden—kicks off the 34th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival and marks an ambitious first year at the PROXY Walk-in Theater.

The PROXY and SFJAZZ community event drew crowds in 2015.

PROXY came to Hayes Valley in 2011, and has since shown the transformative power of temporary development through an evolving mix of art, design, retail, and community events. With the completion of flexible, open-air movie theater in 2015, PROXY realized a longstanding goal, bringing the arts to the street where it is free and accessible to all.

“The PROXY Walk-in Theater is a new kind of arts institution,” explains Douglas Burnham founder of envelope A+D, the firm behind PROXY. “With it, we want to change people’s perception of public space, showing that with minimal means, and without walls, you can create a lovely cultural place.”

Burnham estimates that nearly 2,000 film lovers, neighbors and visitors turned out for last fall’s festival of new independent film. And he expects the spring series to double that number thanks to new partnerships with The Exploratorium, KQED, McSweeney’s, Sundance, the San Francisco International Film Festival.

“There’s just something magical about watching a movie outside with 450 strangers and the city alive all around you,” notes Burnham. “We thought the city noise could be a problem, but it actually adds to the experience.”

The PROXY+SFJAZZ Neighborhood Block Party takes place on Tuesday, June 7th from 5pm to 10pm.